ReStoryUS- An American Pilgrimage September 2023

We will meet with Luther Gray and Jamilah Peters-Muhammad, co-founders of the Congo Square Preservation Society.

Their mission is to:

-Preserve and foster respect for New Orleans’ indigenous traditions and historic places through cultural and educational programming.
​-Undertake, support and promote research on Congo Square’s history and significance in the cultural and economic development of New Orleans and the world.
-Promote public awareness of Congo Square’s history and significance as well as vanguard its depiction in all print and electronic media.
-Ensure that the economic development of Congo Square results in the betterment of local African-American communities.
-Provide Congo Square Living Classroom field trips to children & schools.
-Serve as a voice of consensus regarding all aspects of Congo Square on the input and direction of our local, national and international membership.

We believe that it is time for a new story to emerge in this country. One that unifies our understanding of who we are. A story that incorporates our nations past triumphs, as well as its failures, so that each of us may engage the work of repair to build a hopeful and better tomorrow. It's time to ReStoryUS.

In this orientation, you will be presented a history that weaves together the pieces of our collective past which will provide the ground work for this journey.

Free Dem Foundations

Jerome Morgan, Robert Jones, and Daniel Rideau developed plans for Free-Dem Foundations while they were incarcerated in the Louisiana State Prison at Angola. At a time when it seemed certain that the three of them had no chance of freedom and would all die in prison, they resolved that if they were freed they would reunite as free men and work together to help build community cohesion and self-sufficiency in the neighborhoods where they were raised, and provide special help to the young men living there to escape the snares of mass incarceration. 

With assistance from social justice organizations Jones and Morgan proved that they had been wrongfully convicted and were freed after Jones spent twenty-three and a half years and Morgan spent twenty years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Rideau was released after serving nine years when evidence revealed irregularities in his sentencing. After release, they set up a barber shop and mentoring program that enrolled then twenty year-old Samson Price as their first apprentice.

The Vera Institute of Justice

Vera is fighting to end mass incarceration.

Founded in 1961 to advocate for alternatives to money bail in New York City, Vera is now a national organization that partners with impacted communities and government leaders for change. With offices in four major cities, and a team of hundreds of advocates, researchers, and policy experts, we work to transform the criminal legal and immigration system so that money doesn’t determine freedom; fewer people are incarcerated; and everyone behind bars is treated with dignity.

Our Mission

To end the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty.

Our Vision

Safe, healthy, empowered communities and a fair, accountable justice system.

ISLA

WHAT WE DO

Immigrants in the United States are not entitled to an attorney in their removal proceedings.  Instead, if they cannot afford an attorney, they are forced to present their legal cases before an immigration judge on their own. This typically takes place in a foreign language, and against a trained attorney representing the government.  In an attempt to even the playing field, ISLA attorneys visit detained immigrants at the eleven ICE Processing Centers in the region on a weekly basis and provide pro bono representation under a universal representation model before the Immigration Courts.  Through this service, ISLA ensures that detained immigrants' due process rights are protected and that our clients do not have to attend these hearings and present their cases on their own.

Solitary Gardens

About The Project:

“Jackie, in your letter you asked me: “What sort of house does a man who has lived in a 6’ x 9’ cell for over 30-years dream of?!”— In the front of the house I have 3-squares of gardens. The gardens are the easiest for me to imagine, and I can see they would be certain to be full of gardenias, carnations and tulips. This is of the utmost importance. I would like for guests to be able to smile and walk through flowers all year long.”

-- Herman Wallace, excerpt from a letter to jackie sumell, February 1, 2006

jackie sumell’s most celebrated project, Herman’s House, resulted from an incredible 12-year collaboration with political prisoner Herman Wallace. Herman spent over decades in solitary confinement in the State of Louisiana, for a crime he could not have possibly committed. In his 29th year of isolation, while a graduate student at Stanford University, she began writing him, eventually asking: “What kind of house does a man who has lived in a six-foot-by-nine-foot box for almost thirty years dream of?” This question launched our collaborative project, The House That Herman Built (Herman’s House), an ongoing exhibition, installation, book, advocacy campaign, and Emmy Award-winning documentary (Best Artistic Documentary, 2013). After spending over 41 years in a 6’ x9’ cage, Herman’s conviction was overturned and he was released from prison on October 1, 2013. He died 3-days later from the complications of advanced liver cancer. Fueled by the desire to keep Herman’s legacy alive, The Solitary Gardens, turns solitary confinement cells into garden beds that are the same size and blue-print as the cell Herman, and so many others spend decades in. The contents (plants, flowers and herbs) of the prison-cell-turned-garden-bed are designed by prisoners serving their sentences in isolation through proxies on the outside. Central to this project is a call to end the inhumane conditions of solitary confinement, simultaneously inspiring compassion necessary to dismantle systems of punishment and control.

Studio Be 

Since 2016, Studio BE has developed itself as a landmark and cultural destination in New Orleans. A product of alchemy, a space for artists and the things they create. A space for the local community and the culture that comes from it , and a welcomed space for visitors across the globe - a place all those voices go to sharpen their critical voice and imagine a future that benefits us all.

We'll have approximately a 3 hour drive to Jackson, MS.

Smith Robertson Museum & Cultural Center

Dedicated to the preservation and continuation of African-American history and culture in Mississippi and the deep South, the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center is a trove of art, artifacts, and photography that blend the black Mississippian expressions of yesteryear with today’s experience.

Housed in what was once Smith Robertson Elementary School, the first public school for African-American children in the capital city, our collections exist within the heart of Jackson’s business and arts pulse.

Artifacts highlight contributions through struggle and achievement, as seen in exhibits such as From Slavery to America, 1670-1864, and in the Hall of Fame, which includes personalities from the state who are pioneers in their respective positions.

We will take part in a Worship service at New Horizon Church International with Bishop Ronnie Crudup.

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is the only state-funded civil rights museum in the United States.

We will visit the museum and experience it through meeting with a member of staff and a self-guided tour.

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Medgar and Myrlie Evers exemplify civil rights organizing that combined grassroots strategies with efforts of national organizations to change laws and policies. The Evers established the NAACP office in Jackson, Mississippi in the mid-1950s. Medgar took part in both legal challenges and direct action campaigns. He tirelessly led marches, prayer vigils, voter registration drives and boycotts, and persistently appealed to blacks and whites to work together for a peaceful solution to social problems.

On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke to the nation in a televised address from the Oval Office. “The Report to the American People on Civil Rights” called on all Americans to reject the idea of the inequality of races by asking Congress to enact legislation addressing the long-delayed implementation of the Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation decision. “It ought to be possible…for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or color,” Kennedy said.

Medgar had called from the office that day, encouraging Myrlie to watch the address. He would not be home to watch it with her and their children. It was another late night of organizing and attending meetings. His role as secretary for the Mississippi NAACP field office kept him endlessly busy.

Medgar returned home just after midnight. Myrlie and the children had waited up and were watching TV together. They heard Medgar’s car in the driveway. Then they heard a shot.

Given his public role in Mississippi civil rights, Medgar had anticipated, even expected an early death. But the nation was shocked. His murder galvanized the civil rights movement and heightened public awareness of civil rights issues. As a martyr, Medgar became a catalyst for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation in private businesses.

We'll have approximately a 3 hour drive to Selma, Alabama. 

Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, and Reconciliation

We will participate in a Kingian nonviolence training with the Executive Director, Ainka Jackson, and her staff.

Mission:

The mission of the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, & Reconciliation is to partner with institutions to promote love, the establishment of justice, and build the Beloved Community. The Center is committed to transforming and healing the root causes of physical, political, psychological, environmental, economic and racial violence at personal, family, community and systemic levels.

Vision:

We envision a transformed community where justice prevails, and people are equipped to fulfill their full human potential and creates equity by the systemic barriers to growth and development.

The Edmond Pettus Bridge is the place where "Bloody Sunday" happened on March 7, 1965.

Joanne Bland is a Selma native who participated in the civil rights movement as a freedom rider. We will have to opportunity to hear about her experiences in Selma and engage in conversation about her work.

"I offer first-hand personal accounts of the history of Selma's involvement in the Voting Rights Struggle. I was born and raised in Selma and became a participant at eight when I was arrested for the first time along with my grandmother as she attempted to register to vote.

​Alabama was the front line for both sides of a struggle that came to define post-war America. No visit to this historic state would be complete without due regard to the people who risked everything to overcome its institutionalized injustice."

- Joanne Bland

Legacy Museum: From Slavery to Mass Incarceration

The Legacy Museum provides a comprehensive history of the United States with a focus on the legacy of slavery. From the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its impact on the North and coastal communities across America through the Domestic Slave Trade and Reconstruction, the museum provides detailed interactive content and compelling narratives. Lynching, codified racial segregation, and the emergence of over-incarceration in the 20th century are examined in depth and brought to life through film, images, and first-person narratives. 

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice

The Memorial for Peace and Justice was conceived with the hope of creating a sober, meaningful site where people can gather and reflect on America’s history of racial inequality. EJI partnered with artists like Kwame Akoto-Bamfo whose sculpture on slavery confronts visitors when they first enter the memorial. EJI then leads visitors on a journey from slavery, through lynching and racial terror, with text, narrative, and monuments to the lynching victims in America. In the center of the site, visitors will encounter a memorial square, built in collaboration with MASS Design Group. The memorial experience continues through the civil rights era made visible with a sculpture by Dana King dedicated to the women who sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  Finally, the memorial journey ends with contemporary issues of police violence and racially biased criminal justice expressed in a final work created by Hank Willis Thomas. The memorial displays writing from Toni Morrison and Elizabeth Alexander, words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a reflection space in honor of Ida B. Wells.

We will spend our final hours meeting with Michelle Browder to hear about her work creating the Mother's of Gynecology Monument.

After which, we will wrap up over journey over lunch and conversation.